New DiGiorno pizza launch is an ultimate success for Kraft

When Kraft came up with the idea for DiGiorno Ultimate Pizza, it wanted to get the product in freezer cases as soon as possible.

And it did. In a little over three months' time, the pizza was made available to 12 Midwestern markets. Kraft, along with Weber Shandwick, devised a PR effort that included Kraft's first-ever pop-up store, a celebrity spokesman, and media outreach.

IDEA: To help tout the claim that DiGiorno Ultimate carries an authentic pizzeria taste, they launched a pop-up retail space in Chicago designed to look like a pizzeria. Once inside though, it had the appearance of a typical home kitchen. "It drove home the idea of bringing a pizzeria into your own home," said Lisa Gibbons, senior manager, corporate affairs at Kraft. "Within three days, we served 25,000 slices of pizza."

TOOLS: Kraft launched a media relations effort, product sampling events, and live in-studio TV and radio interviews with celebrity spokesman Doug Savant of Desperate Housewives, whose character is opening up a local pizzeria on the show. The marketing and communications push will continue with a mobile pizzeria sampling tour concluding in May. Target cities include Detroit, Cincinnati, St. Louis, and Minneapolis. "We'll roll out nationally in June and [it will] be available to most of the country by August," Gibbons said.

MEASUREMENT: Kraft will monitor media coverage and impressions. "What we were able to accomplish in just a couple of days in Chicago alone exceeded the outreach we were expecting for the all Midwest markets combined," Gibbons said.